Morag Kuc

Crime prevention advice on how farmers and the rural community in Scotland can make their businesses and properties more secure will be given by officers from Police Scotland attending the Royal Highland Show, at Ingliston Showground, next week (21-24 June).

The officers specialising in rural crime will be staffing an exhibition stand sponsored by Secured by Design (SBD), the UK’s national police crime prevention initiative. Alongside the stand will be a working farm tractor decked out as a police vehicle, complete with flashing blue lights.

It is the first time that SBD has taken part in the show, which is expected to attract more than 250,000 visitors over the four days.

By working alongside Police Forces around the country, SBD seeks to reduce crime by introducing proven crime prevention measures at the planning stage and by encouraging companies that have security-related products to achieve SBD’s Police Preferred Specification standard. SBD has more than 650 companies that has achieved this accreditation.

As the Police Service itself is unable to recommend specific products, SBD can act as an effective gatekeeper and signpost people to companies and products that meet SBD’s high security standards for deterring crime, such as being sufficiently robust to resist attack by casual or opportunist housebreakers.

Detective Chief Superintendent John McKenzie, who chairs SPARC - the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime - said: "We are grateful to Secured by Design for sponsoring our stand at the show, as it allows us to put across many crime prevention messages to a huge audience. We know that 'one size does not fit all' when it comes to preventing crime, and therefore we will be showing visitors to the stand the many ways they can protect themselves from criminality.

"That could be by helping them identify how better design of their farm estate, what physical security measures they can take such as using gates, fences, floodlighting or CCTV, or online through the cyber safety clinics we are holding on the stand each day."

Stuart Ward, National Designing Out Crime Manager, Scotland, said the idea behind the stand is to raise awareness of crime reduction measures that can be applied to rural and farming communities, as SBD is the only way for companies to obtain police accreditation for security-related products in the UK.

He said: “By combining proven crime prevention techniques and SBD accredited products, we can reduce the risks from criminal activity within these areas, and we will also be raising awareness of tracking devices and equipment security such as fuel theft alarms.”